(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an input control device for control which allows the operator to set up commands relating the operation of an appliance.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
For conventional image forming apparatuses such as digital copiers, a system has been proposed which has the functions of subjecting an original image captured through the scanner, to a certain processing which was selected from a variety of image processing functions and outputting the processed image through the printer unit, and/or post-processing the output materials in various manners to produce a compiled documents.
The control panel for such a digital copier needed many keys arranged thereon because of the various functions, resulting in complexity and making it difficult to handle from operability viewpoint.
In recent digital copiers, there has been a tendency that keys which are less frequently used are lidded or some keys are shared having multiple purposes. However, this configuration may not be still adequate, so a display input control device which is composed of combination of a liquid crystal display portion and a transparent touch-panel has been frequently used recently. One example is found in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 6 No. 35,282. Now, based on the example disclosed in this publication, the prior art in the field of the copiers having a conventional touch panel will be briefly described.
The LCD screen (liquid crystal display screen) displays various pieces of information such as the status of the copier, the contents of the instructions as to the copy operation designated by the operator, the message from the copier to the operator, etc. Based on these pieces of information, the operator can make necessary operational commands to the copier. That is, the operator only needs to lightly touch the LCD screen on desired touch keys of the optional command keys displayed on the LCD screen in order to make an instruction as to the desired operation. Therefore, a touch panel is provided on the LCD screen so that the contents displayed on the LCD screen with the optional command keys can be input to the copier.
The display on this LCD screen is adapted to change successively by the operator's instructions or due to the operating state of the copier. This configuration aims at eliminating command keys unrelated to the current status of the copier as much as possible by successive switching of displays suitable to the status of the copier.
For example, the display disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Hei 6 No. 35,282, has many mode selection keys (input through touch panel) arranged on the peripheral part of the LCD screen in order to display many pieces of information within the limited display area on the LCD screen. Thus, upon operating the mode selection keys, the display on the LCD frame is switched to a desired mode.
This configuration allows an inexperienced user to select a desired mode from the mode selection keys arranged on the peripheral part of the LCD screen. Then, the operator, successively chooses the required mode following the interactive change of the display of the copier. In this way, it is possible for the user of the copier to easily operate the copier, even one which has various complicated processing functions.
However, in some cases, a copier having the thus configured input device cannot present good operability, or the display content displayed on the LCD screen may be hard to understand.
Illustratively, a person who is familiar with the copier will need quite a long time and too many complex steps to reach the desired mode on the LCD screen in order to set up a necessary operation. That is, successive displays on the LCD screen aiming at easy selection, inversely, result in inconvenience. Further, there is another big problem that successive changes of the LCD frames causes the operator to easily forget the conditions of the copy mode selected on the previous LCD frames. In such a case, the operator must go back to the previous frames on the LCD screen to confirm the status, resulting in wasted time during mode setup.
Whenever the content on the LCD screen is changed upon the instruction from the control portion, a content different from that shown in the previous display frame will be displayed on the LCD screen. The operator, after viewing and grasping all the display content, should make a next command.
Some multi-functionality copiers have an control guiding means such as a help key on the control panel for illustrating the functions so that when user gets lost and cannot set up the operation, it displays the required guidance information to help the user to make the correct commands.
This technique is disclosed, for example, in Japanese Utility Model Publication Hei 4 No. 42,851. This configuration only displays brief guidance about the way of control and what the keys indicates for unknown keys. Therefore, when the help key is operated during the setup of a desired mode (function), an inexperienced user may rather become confused, giving rise to operating problems.
Thus, even if the manufacturer intended to design easily understandable frames, no input device having perfect operability has yet to appear from a user's viewpoint.